Trump says will speak with Putin soon

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said Thursday he would speak soon with Russia's Vladimir Putin, after his call earlier in the day with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders.

"I will be, yeah," Trump told a reporter asking if he would speak with the Russian leader in the near future, on the sidelines of a dinner with prominent US tech executives at the White House.

Trump's call with European leaders came after a summit in Paris aimed at firming up plans for security guarantees for Ukraine if or when there is a ceasefire.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that talks with Trump "can be organized very quickly if necessary" but rejected out of hand the idea of Western security guarantees for Kyiv.

"Can foreign, especially European and American military contingents, provide and guarantee security for Ukraine? Definitely not, they cannot," Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.

"This cannot be a guarantee of security for Ukraine that would suit our country."

More than two dozen countries have pledged tojoin a "reassurance" force to deploy in Ukraine after any eventual peace deal, aiming to deter Moscow from again attacking its neighbour, leaders announced Thursday after the Paris summit.

However, there is growing concern that Putin has no interest in ending the conflict, with alarm intensifying after a visit to Beijing this week during which he vowed Russia would fight on in Ukraine if a peace deal cannot be reached.